FA for all 4 years

3puppies
Mon, 05 Aug 2019 20:31:25 +0000

Coming from a family that has had plenty of need, and gotten a significant portion of need based aid, I understand this question and asked it a lot as my pups were going through the process of picking their schools. Some things are easy to predict - like how older siblings graduating changes the family size, which generally changes the amount of need and lessens the aid provided. Other things - like having a grandparent pass away, and getting a relatively small inheritance, which changes the available assets, and also lowers the aid - are not so easy to predict.

We looked at most of the schools that meet full need, and even though they all determine need differently using their own formula, they all pretty much told us that they will recalculate aid every year according to the family’s situation at the time of the application. That being said, in order to get an idea as to how their aid might change if your situation changes, they suggested running the NPC with different scenarios - as a family of 5 and again as a family of 4, to see how much the aid changes when the sibling graduates. Or, try playing with the numbers to see what happens if you increased the family income by $X amount, or the family limited assets change, etc. See what happens if a potential inheritance comes in, and if it is given to the grandchild, or to the parents instead.

These schools understand that families who expect to have a lot of need, all want to figure out how to maximize their aid and decrease their net cost over the course of their undergrad years. Schools can’t and don’t give financial advice, but they are more than happy to answer a family’s questions.

Every family’s financial situation is unique. But for families with need, sometimes the choices they make, and when, will impact how much aid their children may expect. Simple things that families might not think about - like what type of assets they have, and when they are liquidated to pay for school - can affect the aid materially in future years. And what impacts the aid at one school may not have as much impact at another school.